How large is Greenland, really? Your map may be deceiving you

These maps show two different approaches to depicting Greenland. The left map is an orthographic projection, emulating a globe. The right map is a Mercator projection, which exaggerates the sizes of landmasses — including Greenland — that are closest to the poles.

Talk of annexation has Greenland in the news again. But due to quirks of cartography, some common maps show the territory much larger than it is.

(Image credit: Alyson Hurt)